Geographic atrophy (GA), the advanced stage of age-related macular degeneration, is a leading cause of blindness. GA lesions are characterized by anisotropic growth and the ability to predict growth patterns would be valuable in assessing potential therapeutics. In this study, we propose an OCT-based marker of local GA growth rate based on an axial projection of the OCT volume in the Henle fiber layer (HFL) and outer nuclear layer (ONL). We analyze the association between our proposed metric and local GA growth rates in a small longitudinal cohort of patients with AMD. These methods can potentially be used to identify risk markers, stratify patients, or assess response in future therapeutic studies.

中文翻译：

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开发潜在的视网膜OCT生物标记物以促进地理萎缩的局部生长

年龄相关性黄斑变性的晚期，地理萎缩（GA）是失明的主要原因。GA损伤的特征在于各向异性的生长，并且预测生长模式的能力在评估潜在的治疗方法中将是有价值的。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种基于OCT的局部GA生长速率标记，该标记基于Henle纤维层（HFL）和外核层（ONL）中OCT体积的轴向投影。我们分析了AMD患者的一小部分纵向队列中我们提出的指标与局部GA增长率之间的关联。这些方法可潜在地用于识别风险标记，对患者进行分层或评估将来的治疗研究中的反应。